The welcome to the so-called "last dictatorship in Europe" is not warm. At the border, in a room that looks like a Cold War set, a camera records the interrogation by a Belarusian soldier.–What are you doing in Belarus? –he asks.–Tourism –he says. I am the last of the four foreigners on the bus from Warsaw to Brest to be interviewed.The soldier rummages through my phone without letting me see the screen, but later I will know that he has looked at my social media interactions, deleted photographs, and contact list. He asks me about work and studies, about interest in the country. The questions are not exhaustive. The interview is a message: once inside the country, they are in control.Since the 2020 protests, the stability of Alexander Lukashenko's regime hangs by a thread. Despite the violent repression of the opposition, the fear of another protest movement, organized from exile, persists. To the political tension are added the criticisms and sanctions following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which Belarus has supported. The regime does not expect foreigners to be in its favor, but it wants to dissuade them from being instigators or participants in any internal revolt. – Do you know anyone from Ukraine?–Yes, an old classmate.–And do you live there?–No, she lives in Belgium. It’s been a long time since I last spoke.Ties with Ukrainian people or members of the Belarusian diaspora are a source of suspicion. A few seconds later, the soldier shows me, on my screen, a contact with a Slavic name. It's my acquaintance. He doesn't ask me any more questions, but he has already sown unease about my privacy in the country. He returns my phone and the stamped passport. "Everything is fine," he says, and I cross the barrier into Belarus. Once inside, surveillance seems nonexistent: no one will control where we go or who we talk to.To stay in power for three decades, Aleksandr Lukashenko has done more than resort to violence. With his allies, he has created a propaganda machine that allows him to dominate discourse and opinions and fight external ideas and influences. They do not need to implement total censorship, but they do need to control how information is interpreted.Savior of the fatherland

Around 3,000 migrants, most of them refugees from the Middle East, are trapped on the border between Belarus, which has accompanied them there, and Poland, which has barricaded their passage with riot police and tear gas. The families are enduring sub-zero temperatures and humanitarian actors are not allowed access. This is the latest crisis scenario in the EU.